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Thursday, July 6, 2017

Extremism report puts Saudi Arabia and British PM May on the spot, strengthens Qatar in Gulf Crisis

A report
charging Saudi Arabia with funding extremism in Britain puts both the kingdom
and Prime Minister Teresa May on the spot. The report also potentially strengthens
Qatar’s insistence that support of extremism should be tackled regionally and
that demands by an anti-Qatari, Saudi-UAE-led alliance be addressed to both
sides of the divide in the Gulf crisis.

The report by the conservative Henry Jackson Society
asserted that among Gulf states and Iran, Saudi Arabia was the primary funder
of extremism in Britain as well as elsewhere. It said the kingdom “since the
1960s has sponsored a multimillion dollar effort to export Wahhabi Islam across
the Islamic world, including to Muslim communities in the West.”

Publication of the report could not have come at a worse
moment for the kingdom and Ms. May. Saudi Arabia together with the UAE has led
a month-old diplomatic and economic boycott of Qatar, which they accuse of supporting
extremism and terrorism. Qatar has denied the charges.

By the same token, the report increased
pressure on Ms. May to publish a government report on funding of extremism
in the UK that reportedly also points fingers at Saudi Arabia. Ms. May has said
the government was reviewing its report and would decide on publication in “due
course.”

In a statement, the Saudi embassy in London
said any accusations that the kingdom had radicalised "a small number of
individuals are baseless and lack credible evidence." The embassy insisted
that "we do not and will not condone the actions or ideology of violent
extremism and we will not rest until these deviants and their organisations are
destroyed."

Both Saudi Arabia and jihadists use the term ‘deviant’ to
describe one another. In doing so, both acknowledge Sunni Muslim
ultra-conservatism and jihadism’s common roots but accuse the other of having
deviated from the right path.

A Saudi-UAE-led alliance gave Qatar a ten-day ultimatum that
expired this week to meet 13 demands that beyond halting support for extremists
and Islamists, included closing a Turkish military base in the Gulf state,
lowering its relations with Iran, and shuttering Qatar-sponsored media,
including the controversial Al Jazeera television network. The alliance
threatened further sanctions if Qatar failed to meet the demands which the
Saudis declared were non-negotiable.

Foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and
Bahrain, gathered this week in Cairo to decide how to respond Qatar’s rejection
of their demands, said further steps to force Qatar’s hand would be decided at
the “appropriate
time.”

Sensitive to criticism of their demands by various Western
leaders and calls by the United States, Europe, China and Russia for a
negotiated end to the Gulf crisis, the ministers focused in a news
conference on six extremism-related issues.

They demanded that Qatar commit to combat extremism and
terrorism, suspend provocative acts and speeches that incite to hatred or
violence, adhere to various Arab agreements, and stop interfering in the
internal affairs of others and supporting illegal entities.

On paper, the demands look like the basis for a solution of
the Gulf crisis. The problem is that there is widespread disagreement on what
constitutes extremism, terrorism, and incitement to hatred or violence, and
which organizations are illegal. Many view Wahhabism, the interpretation of
Islam adopted by both Saudi Arabia and Qatar, as extremist. Saudi Arabia and
the UAE have, moreover, banned the Muslim Brotherhood, a group that Qatar backs,
and that is legal in the United States and Europe and has not been designated
under international law by the United Nations.

Nonetheless, the demands buffeted by the Jackson Society
report potentially open a door for Qatar to level the playing field by
insisting that the accusations against it are in fact also being levelled
against its detractors.

The Jackson Society report, despite the fact that there is
little doubt that Saudi Arabia has massively promoted various forms of Sunni
Muslim ultra-conservatism, regurgitates long-known facts and assertions. It is largely
based on secondary sources, primarily media reports, rather than on independent
investigation.

As a result, the report at some points jumps to conclusions
while at others it appears to underestimate the impact of Saudi backing of
Sunni Muslim ultra-conservatism. Quoting a book
by BBC journalist Innes Bowen as well as a US State
Department report on international religious freedom, the Jackson Society
noted that the number of Salafi and Wahhabi mosques in Britain had increased
from 68 in 2007 to 110 in 2014.

While that constitutes a substantial increase, the Jackson
Society report failed to note the far more worrisome fact that almost half of Britain’s 1,750 mosques are Deobandi, a
Saudi-backed South Asian strand of Sunni Muslim ultra-conservatism.

Usama Hasan, a scion of Britain’s foremost Salafi scholar,
who was employed by the Dawa or proselytization department of the Saudi embassy
in London before becoming head of Islamic studies at the Quilliam Foundation,
estimated that at least half of the Deobandi mosques in Britain were Saudi
funded. Saudi-backed Deobandi influence is magnified by the fact that a
substantial number of UK-trained Muslim scholars are graduates of Deobandi
institutions. A majority of militants in Pakistan adhere to Deobandism.

Similarly, a host of intelligence reports, politicians and
pundits assert that Saudi-backed Sunni Muslim ultra-conservatism enables an
environment that under certain circumstances breeds extremism. Nonetheless.
despite preaching an intolerant, anti-pluralistic and supremacist brand of
Islam, Sunni ultra-conservatism is not in and of itself violent nor does it
lead by definition to extremism or violence.

Instead, ultra-conservatism complicates forging a synthesis
between Islamic and Western values and serves as a catalyst for extremism among
those segments of society in search of a meaningful life-guiding philosophy,
desperate to vent frustration and anger, or seeking glory.

Noting that British “national counter-terrorism strategy has
placed increased emphasis on addressing the role that non-violent Islamist
extremism and extremist ideology plays in ultimately leading some individuals
to commit acts of violence,” the report implicitly lays responsibility for
political violence perpetrated by Muslims primarily at the doorstep of
Saudi-backed ultra-conservatism.

It noted that “some of Britain’s most prominent Islamist
extremist preachers — men such as Abu Qatada, Abu Hamza, Abdullah al Faisal, Sheikh
Omar Bakri — have all sat within what can be described as a broadly
Wahhabi/Salafi ideology.”

A Jordanian national, Omar Mahmoud Othman or Abu Qatada al-Filistini
was extradited on charges of terrorism from Britain to Jordan where he was acquitted
because of insufficient evidence. Mustafa Kamel Mustafa aka Abu Hamza al-Masri
was convicted in both Britain and the US for terrorism.

A UK court convicted, Abdullah el-Faisal, a convert to
Islam, to prison for stirring up racial hatred and urging his followers to kill
Jews, Hindus, Christians, and Americans. A Syrian militant, Omar Bakri Muhammad,
was barred in 2005 from returning to Britain where he had lived for 20 years.
He was subsequently sentenced to life in prison in Lebanon.

The Jackson Society report said that many of Britain’s
Wahhabi and Salafi scholars had been educated in Saudi Arabia. It charged that
they “assist with the spreading of hard-line and illiberal interpretations of Islam
to the wider British Muslim community.” Citing media reports, the report listed
a host of Saudi-funded mosques that had been associated with extremism.

“There have also been numerous cases of British individuals
who have joined Jihadist groups in Iraq and Syria whose radicalisation is thought
to link back to foreign funded institutions and preachers,” the report said. It
identified the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar and Iran as also funding ultra-conservatism
but focused primarily on Saudi activity.

The report asserted that some 24 Saudi-funded schools in
Britain used Saudi schoolbooks that the Islamic State had introduced into its
education system. Quoting the BBC, it said that some 5,000 British children
were being educated in 2010 according to the official Saudi curriculum in
weekend classes in some 40 clubs and schools.

To be fair, the report acknowledged that “it is rarely the
case that a definitive or causative connection can be established between foreign
funding and individuals being recruited into terrorism.” As a result, while the
report identified various British extremists as having had Saudi links, it
failed to prove beyond any doubt that Saudi-backed ultra-conservatism by definition
leads to radicalization and political violence.

To Qatar’s disadvantage however, the report highlighted the
London-based Al-Muntada Trust, which it said was funded by the Gulf state. The
trust, which is also believed to have close ties to Saudi Arabia and militant
Saudi Islamic scholars, held its 2013 conference in Doha, according to the
report. The Trust has condemned various attacks in recent months in Britain
that have killed scores of people, but as of this writing had yet to comment on
the Jackson Society report.

“The trust has been connected with a number of mosques where
radicalisation has taken place. Specifically, in the case of a group of young
British men from Cardiff, it has been suggested that attendance at the Al-Muntada-linked
al-Manar Mosque was significant in their radicalisation and decision to travel
to Syria and join the Islamic State,” the report said.

Qatar benefits from the report even if it does not emerge
from it smelling like roses. The fact that the report attributes primary blame
to Saudi Arabia and identifies other Gulf states as well as Iran is likely to
strengthen Qatar’s argument that the Saudi-UAE-led boycott is an attempt to
undermine its sovereignty and that the solution to the Gulf crisis should be
one that addresses problems of funding of extremism on a regional basis.

It is an argument that will resonate with many, but is
unlikely to contribute to resolving the Gulf crisis unless all parties are
persuaded to step back from the brink and sit around a negotiating table. So
far, there is little indication that the Saudi-UAE-led alliance is willing to
heed calls for a dialogue. Complicating mediation efforts is Qatar’s demand
that the Saudi-UAE-led alliance lift its boycott before any talks get underway.

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James M DorseyWelcome to The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer by James M. Dorsey, a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Soccer in the Middle East and North Africa is played as much on as off the pitch. Stadiums are a symbol of the battle for political freedom; economic opportunity; ethnic, religious and national identity; and gender rights. Alongside the mosque, the stadium was until the Arab revolt erupted in late 2010 the only alternative public space for venting pent-up anger and frustration. It was the training ground in countries like Egypt and Tunisia where militant fans prepared for a day in which their organization and street battle experience would serve them in the showdown with autocratic rulers. Soccer has its own unique thrill – a high-stakes game of cat and mouse between militants and security forces and a struggle for a trophy grander than the FIFA World Cup: the future of a region. This blog explores the role of soccer at a time of transition from autocratic rule to a more open society. It also features James’s daily political comment on the region’s developments. Contact: incoherentblog@gmail.comView my complete profile